Bucknell Hoops Trio Profits from Summer International Experience

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Josh Linthicum averaged 8.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in his final two games with the East Coast All-Stars.

Linthicum, Evans, Medrano All Played Overseas this Summer

Aug. 31, 2007

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Junior Josh Linthicum and sophomores Zach Evans and George Medrano played reserve roles for the Bucknell basketball team last season, but all three took big steps forward in advancing their careers by playing against quality international competition over the summer.

Linthicum, a 6-11 center from Farmington, N.M., toured with the East Coast All-Stars, a group of college players who traveled to Holland and Belgium for seven games in seven days in August, including two against the Dutch National Team. The Americans, who had only one practice together before flying overseas, posted a 3-4 record on the trip.

Linthicum, who had 13 points and 12 rebounds in 21 games as a reserve last season, played about 20 minutes per game with the East Coast All-Stars and totaled 27 points, 25 rebounds and nine blocked shots in the seven contests. His best production came in Belgium during the final two games of the week, when he had eight points and four rebounds in a loss to Boom BBC, then added another eight points and four boards along with two blocked shots in a 15-point win over Welvegem.

Evans played for the United States team in the European Maccabi Games in Rome this past July, where he helped the U.S. to a silver medal. As a freshman at Bucknell last season, Evans appeared in 12 games and scored two points.

Medrano, who also had two points in 10 games as a rookie in 2006-07, had the opportunity to play for the El Salvadorian National Team at a FIBA Americas Central American qualifier tournament in July.

All three student-athletes wrote about their international experiences, which proved to be memorable for reasons extending far beyond basketball:

Josh Linthicum

Josh Linthicum, on playing for the East Coast All-Stars in Belgium and Holland
"This summer I played for a traveling basketball team called the East Coast All-Stars. The team was made up of 10 guys from 10 schools: Bucknell, Rutgers, Loyola, St. Rose, Texas A&M, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Kentucky, St. Joseph's, and Stony Brook. We all met for the first time on Aug. 6 and had one day to practice together before leaving for Europe on the 7th. We were going on a nine-day trip to Holland and Belgium where we would play seven games in seven days.

The trip started in Holland, where we spent three days, and played the Dutch National Team. We lost our first game, but took them down to the last second of the second game. After only practicing together once and not knowing each other previously, it took a few games to get used to my teammates' playing styles. After our games in Gent and Brussels in Belgium, our team finished with a 3-4 record. We were disappointed that we lost some games, but still held our heads high knowing that we played against the top professional teams from their respective countries.

The culture in Europe was a lot different than I had imagined. Brussels and Gent were more traditional in the sense of having cleaner streets with museums, older buildings and fancy restaurants throughout the cities. My most valuable experience I learned while in Europe is that you can't judge a place unless you try it first. After eating McDonalds for three days, my teammates and I learned that there was great food out there that we could have never tried in America. As for Amsterdam's Red Light District, I wouldn't have the slightest idea ...

I had a great time while playing in Europe and I would encourage anyone else pursuing sports to try the same thing. Playing basketball with international rules and regulations was a big surprise and very different from American basketball. The knowledge and experience that I gained, however, will help me tremendously back here in America. The biggest thing I learned in Europe is that any sign of weakness or passivity will be singled out and other teams will try to expose those weaknesses throughout the game. So no matter what time the game is -- two minutes before tip off when everyone is lining up to start or on the foul line before a shot -- you can't take a break because someone is planning on bumping or hitting you to try to get you out of your game. I felt that my whole trip was a great experience, and after I finish playing here at Bucknell, I hope to join my former teammates Donald Brown, Chris McNaughton and Abe Badmus in playing international basketball overseas."

Zach Evans

Zach Evans, on playing for the U.S. team at the European Maccabi Games in Rome
"This summer I went to Rome, Italy to represent the United States in the European Maccabi Games in the Open Men's Basketball tournament. The Maccabi Games are exclusively open to Jewish people and is basically thought of as the 'Jewish Olympics.' There was a training camp at La Salle University in Philadelphia during the last week of June, and we arrived in Rome on July 1. Since I was 13 years old I have participated in the JCC Maccabi Games, which is basically a national tournament of different delegations all over the United States. I played on the Los Angeles delegation for four years in a row, where I traveled to Philadelphia, Montreal, Houston and Boston, and my team won a gold medal every time.

In late May, I got a phone call from the coach of the team, Harris Adler, who is also an assistant coach at La Salle, and he asked me if I wanted to play on the team. After discussing it with those close to me, I decided I was going to play. Also, I knew two other guys from LA that were going to play on the team, including a friend of mine who is the point guard for Arizona State, Derek Glasser.

To be honest, the beginning of the trip was difficult. It had to do with being in a different country and the fact there was a lot of security for us, but there a lot of time spent waiting. However, the food was spectacular, as were the sights. Although there were many great places in Rome in terms of sightseeing, I'd say the most memorable place was the Vatican. As it is in most countries, it is difficult to be there when you don't speak the language, although for the most part everybody was nice, even though cab drivers would blatantly overcharge us because we were Americans. Everything was fine, though, because whatever happened you were going through it with your teammates, and I enjoyed being with them. We played six games in all, losing to Russia in our second game, then we lost in the championship game to France in overtime. It was frustrating to not go away with a gold medal, however we still managed to enjoy ourselves and took a lot out of the experience.

The international game is much different than here in several ways. There are a lot of flops, hacks, elbows and travelings that are overlooked. It was very frustrating, but we managed to do okay. Bucknell basketball definitely prepared me for this experience, just playing in an outstanding college program prepared me to excel at this level of play. However, I will say the same thing from the other perspective. I feel that playing in Rome has prepared me for my sophomore year at Bucknell. These games were in no way easy. We were playing in an extremely hot gym, with no air conditioning, and we were getting hacked and not getting any calls. I never went through any basketball game that was as physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting as the games in Rome. This experience made me tougher, and it made be thankful for the fact that we have air conditioning in our Sojka Pavilion. To conclude, despite the challenges we went through, I had a great time there, and I came back more well-rounded because of those obstacles."

George Medrano

George Medrano, on his summer with the El Salvador National Team
"The organization that I traveled with was the El Salvadorian National Team, and we were playing for FIBA Americas basketball. I went to represent the national team, and to experience basketball outside of the U.S. They flew me out in the middle of June for a week for a tryout, when we had two scrimmages vs. a club team from Puerto Rico. Then I returned a month later, the last two weeks of July for a week of training camp and the last week of July was the tournament. In total I was in El Salvador for three weeks.

I got involved through my uncle, who had found out about the tournament and the ES team as well. Through e-mails and telephone contact with the president and the head coach of the team, it all came together. A valuable experience that I learned was that no matter what the language, we all speak the same language and that's basketball. The most memorable place that I visited was a Colombian-owned resort on one the beaches of El Salvador, called Decameron. The culture was very different. Being in a third-world Latin American country, there's a huge mixture of different types of people and their social status, buildings and traffic in the main cities, and endless forests, volcanoes and beaches everywhere else.

Playing at Bucknell prepared me for this experience, because this was a very high level of basketball that was extremely physical, and being disciplined helped me out a lot. My teammates were a lot of fun, real nice people, and most of them spoke English, so it wasn't that hard to communicate. We came from all over -- New York, Puerto Rico, California, Honduras and of course ES. I would definitely go again, and with a chance to someday be in the Olympics, who wouldn't?"

In other Bison basketball news, 2007 graduates Chris McNaughton and Donald Brown have signed to play for professional clubs in Spain and Iceland, respectively. Interestingly, one of McNaughton's first games for his new team -- C.B. L'Hospitalet in Barcelona -- came against a familiar foe in Holy Cross, which was winding up a summer overseas tour in Spain. McNaughton had 10 points in a victory over the Crusaders.

Another 2007 graduate, point guard Abe Badmus, returned to the Nigerian National Team for the FIBA Africa Cup this summer. Badmus started the team's first two games -- a 109-35 rout of Liberia and a 77-54 win over Central African Republic -- but suffered an injury and could not compete the rest of the tournament. Nigeria went on to finish fifth and failed to qualify for the 2008 Olympics. Badmus also played with the Nigerian squad in the summer of 2005, helping them qualify for the 2006 World Championships.

After spending his second straight summer with the San Antonio Spurs' summer league team, 2006 alum Charles Lee will be heading to Belgium this season, where he will play for Verviers-Pepinster. Lee played last season with Gilboa-Afula in Israel.

These recent graduates join former Bison all-stars Boakai Lalugba '03, Bryan Bailey '02 and J.R. Holden '98 in the European professional ranks. Lalugba will play for Bourg in France this season after previous stops in Sweden and Finland. Bailey played last season with Artland Dragons Quakenbruek in Germany, while Holden continues to be one of the top players in Russia as a starting guard with powerhouse CSKA Moscow. He has helped the team to five straight Russian Championships, a Euroleague title in 2006 and a Euroleague runner-up finish in 2007.